COCOBOD staff condemn ICU, GAWU allegations

The Supreme Consultative Council of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is not happy with allegations levelled against it by the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) and the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) and tarnishing the image of the Board in the wake of ongoing disputes over break away of COCOBOD from GAWU and ICU.

Addressing a press conference, the Chairman of the Supreme Consultative Council Alhaji Idris Hassan, stated that claims by the two bodies are misleading and only meant to tarnish the reputation of the Board.

According to the supreme council chairman, COCOBOD is still poised to break away from the two bodies since the Council had met all the necessary requirements that enabled them to register the union, saying the gesture would give a new lift as far as workers plight and welfare are concerned.

He said membership registration was not compulsory as speculated and debunked allegations that some workers were victimized and transferred because they fail to join the union.

The ICU had filed a suit at the human rights court to challenge the decision of members of the COCOBOD Union Workers to leave ICU and form a union.

The ICU explained that the decision of the COCOBOD Workers Union, if allowed to stand, would amount to a breach of the fundamental human rights of its members and the ICU as a whole.

At a news conference jointly organized by the ICU and the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) in Accra accused the council of coercing the workers to join another illegal union with the support of the management.

According to ICU and GAWU, their outfit had been the registered and accredited national unions that hold the Collective Bargaining Certificate for the conduct of negotiations and had operated for about 62 years; but the current management of COCOBOD had affected smooth negotiation.

Alhaji Hassan explained that COCOBOD decided to break away from ICU because of unfair negotiations which would affect the welfare of the workers since their interest is key to the success of the company.

He said ICU as part of its restructuring process wanted to privatize Cocoa Marketing Company, which they believed was detrimental to the progress of the company and the economy as well.

Alhaji noted that ICU wanted to negotiate with COCOBOD workers salary without allowance which they objected, adding that they took the decision to break away mainly because of dishonesty on the part of ICU.